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Originally Posted by mrbreez
What is the easiest way to determind which gear ratio is on this truck? I am looking at 5th wheel campers & was asked which ratio was on the truck to determind what size camper to go with.
mrbreez
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A 2002 LTD with the V8 has 3.91 gears. However, the axle ratio is the
least of your concerns when determining what size 5th wheel trailer you can pull with a Tundra. There are two critical issues when considering pulling a 5th wheel trailer with a Tundra.
Issue 1: Weight. A 5th wheel trailer puts about 20% of its total weight on the hitch. The hitch is mounted just ahead of the truck's rear axle therefore nearly all the hitch weight will be carried by the rear axle. Tundras have very light duty rear axles for a half ton truck...the Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) for the rear axle is only 3760 lbs. I have had my truck (a lighter SR5) weighed...with only me in the cab (190 lbs), a full tank of gas, and a light load of cargo (~250 lbs), the weight on my rear axle was 2700 lbs. Considering that a "slider" 5th wheel hitch (see Issue 2) will weigh around 300 lbs, you should assume that your truck will have around 2700 to 3000 lbs on the rear axle
before you hook up the trailer. That means that the most hitch weight you can handle is 1000 lbs and 700 lbs is more realistic.
Those hitch weights translate into 5th wheels that have maximum
loaded weights between 3500 and 5000 lbs. All RV manufacturers only publish the "empty" weights for their trailers...and those empty weights do not include any factory or dealer options, nor do they include the weights of any water/propane/food/clothing/camping gear you will be putting into the trailer. Typically, those options (like AC, even the spare tire is usually an option) and your water/propane/food/gear will together weigh around 800 to 1000 lbs. Lets assume you pack/load very lightly and use 800 lbs. That means
you should not buy any 5th wheel with an "empty" or "published" weight that is greater than 4200 lbs and you really shouldn't buy one that is over 2700 lbs. Good luck finding a 2700 lb empty weight 5th wheel.
Issue 2: Trailer/cab clearance when cornering. A typical 5th wheel is 8 feet wide. That means the side of the trailer is 48 inches (4 feet) from the center of the hitch pin. Your truck has a very short bed...with the center of hitch mounted 4 to 5 inches ahead of the axle for optimum load carrying, there's typically only 25 inches between the back of the cab and the center of the hitch. The hitch pins on nearly all 5th wheels are placed somewhat behind the front of the trailer. Therefore, as you turn that difference between 48 inches and 25 inches means that
at some cornering angle the front of the trailer is going to collide with the rear corner of the cab. It usually happens during very sharp turns in/out of camping sites but can occur even when going in/out of gas stations.
It's inevitable and will cause major damage to both the front of the trailer and the truck cab when it happens.
There is a solution to this problem of towing 5th wheel trailers with short box pickups and it's a known as "slider" hitch. There are two kinds...manual and automatic. Both allow the hitch to slide rearward about 2 feet so the front of the trailer will clear the cab on a sharp turn. The manual version requires that you anticipate when there will be a problem, then get out to pull a lever, then pull the truck ahead so the hitch will slide back, then perform the turn, then pull the lever again and back the truck up so the hitch moves back where its supposed to be. Forget to do all this...or fail to recognize when you need to...and BAM, a crunched trailer and crunched truck.
Or you can spend about $2100 to buy this
Pullrite "Superglide 12K" Automatic hitch. Yeah, pricey and just about fills the truck's bed but no worries about trailer/cab crunches and it will even handle a sudden jacknifing during emergency braking. AFAIK, only Pullrite makes an automatic slider hitch.
The bottom line is that it will be very hard to find a light enough 5th wheel to stay within the weight limits of your Tundra, and even if you do, you will still have to spend a big chunk of cash to buy a slider hitch to avoid cab/trailer crunches. To be honest, you'd be much better off looking at conventional travel trailers (where the empty weights can be up to 5500 lbs) in conjunction with a top-notch trapezoidal or cam action (not friction) anti-sway weight distributing hitch like a Hensley.